Functional
by Laryna6
Summary: No one exists in a vacuum. Drabble tributes to the tools of Dante's trade, the only reliable things in his life.
1. Wyrd Sisters

Disclaimer: No weapons allowed in the dorms. So it's a safe bet I don't own either Dante or his weaponry.

First in a series of drabbles about the 'weapon-tachi', Dante's helpers. They keep the hunk alive and not ugly scarred, so they deserve the thanks of all fangirls everywhere.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

The Wyrd Sisters:

Clotho – Ivory

HE had started building them when HE was thirteen. They had been redesigned over and over. Once, HE had put 'cameos' in the handles, ovals with pictures of little girls. Everything else changed, but the cameos stayed, covered over.

And so they stayed eternally ten.

Once HE had said HIS mom had once said that she had wanted to have twin girls just like them, before…. And then HE hugged them and took them out for ice cream.

But getting to make demons die later was the best. But HE needed her to be sweet, so she was.

Lachesis – Ebony

Ivory scared her, sometimes.

She really liked the Powerpuff girls 'cause there was a yellow like Ivory and a black like her and Nevan could be Blossom and they saved the day and helped their daddy, just like them. HE said they were just like them. But not really.

She said the tough things because Ivory couldn't without the hate leaking through. And Nevan… Nevan needed cheering up as much as HIM.

But Ivory was slipping, and slipping was bad. It made you fall out of HIS hands, being bloody.

She wondered sometimes if Vergil had scared HIM like this.

Atropos – Nevan

HIS hands were fast and sure, yet gentle when in battle, and equally artful, but even gentler when HE played songs on her so that she might learn them.

Then HE would play HIS drums and she would play herself and the others would clap and when it was over HE would take her hand and they'd both bow.

HIS hands didn't hurt even when HE had claws. It was very different.

She almost wished HE would touch her like she had been made to be. She could almost believe it wouldn't hurt. Maybe HE could make her not remember…

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Composition notes:

DMC1 takes place in 2001, and DMC3 in 1991 with Dante being 18, I'm pretty sure. As of 2001 then, Dante has been without his family for 20 years. All people need people they can talk to. I'm guessing that after his mom was killed and Vergil ran off when they were 8, Dante was taken in by Tony and Aisha from the artbook. Tony is a gunsmith, and Dante dedicated Ebony and Ivory to him (inscription in the artbook), so Dante probably knows weapons-making. DMC3 takes place when he's moving out on his own.

Dante has a rather fucked-up family situation. His father was killed possibly before he was born, but certainly when he was young enough not to have any clear memories of him because he only knows him through what his mom said about him. His mom dying and his brother turning evil… Dysfunctional. Whereas, weapons are tools, functional by definition. Hence the title: what works in Dante's life, what allows him to live up to his name and endure. He lives with them, he works with them, they save his life, they're the only ones around for a long time he can talk to about being a devil and so on… there's a deep bond there.

In the Artbook, Ebony and Ivory are designed very differently, and have cameos, jewelry pictures, of girls on them: Ivory blonde and Ebony brunette. I'm guessing the cameos belonged to Eva, Dante's mom. In the game, the guns are rather different. Since guns are a very un-devilish weapon, according to Vergil, they are probably made on earth. Since Dante would certainly prefer enchanted weaponry, and they must have at least some magic to survive channeling the powers of Alastor and Ifrit in the first game, my theory is that he made them, and they contain devil magic, hence the instant reloading. Guns that were smart enough to auto-target vital points so he could concentrate on strategy would also be helpful. He also does talk to them. So, I don't see them being sentient as unlikely.

The title of this section is from Macbeth, a play renowned for being unlucky to perform. Many swords in it, and battles. The weapons use 'evil powers' like the witches in the play, and shape the fate of man by saving it. Also 'sisters' invokes the relationship. Dante would have grown up with Vergil always there, so he'd want someone around his age, because that would be normal for him. Also, given that his whole justification for his existence, why despite being a devil he is not evil, is protecting people, I think he'd want something to protect, that wouldn't be scared of him for being what he is. And making his mom's wish come true, in a way… It's interesting that Dante and Vergil look so much like Sparda. Given genetics, Hellspawn and humans can't possibly be able to interbreed naturally. So Dante and Vergil were probably designed and Eva would have had input. Also, Dante made the guns and would be teaching them, so obviously they would be 'younger' than him.

The titles of the individual drabbles go back to the fate theme. The Wyrd sisters echo the Three Fates of Greek tradition. They weave the cloth of history. Clotho, the youngest, selects the thread. Ivory is Clotho because of the connotation of Ivory with white, and hence innocence. Yet, Ivory is obtained by killing. Clotho seems to start life by choosing who lives, yet choosing who lives determines who dies. She was created to deal death, and kills to defend Dante and avenge him, and herself. Yet, on the surface, she appears pure and innocent. Can she be happy, eternally young?

The second is Lachesis, who measures the threads. That involves thought and deliberation. Ebony is wood, and invokes to me the slow growth of a tree. Also, wood can be obtained from fallen branches, and there is actually slightly less death associated with it, despite logging. Also, the vegetable nature of staying in one place invokes a desire for stability. Ebony here is the one associated with the deliberate decision to kill, yet she is the most thoughtful. She's the one looking towards the future, planning it out. Yet she's also the most childish, most able to take pleasure in the small things: like a tree in sunlight.

Ebony and Ivory both entirely define themselves in terms of Dante, being his creations: he's all they've ever known, and they're dedicated to helping him. Not healthy for humans, but no one here is human. The number 10 I picked because I picked 13 first, as the unlucky number and the start of the teen years, when Dante would be looking to the future and wanting his own weapons. 10 is the base number of the counting system: it's a determinedly normal number. It's close enough to his age for them to be partners, yet it's also clearly younger.

The third Fate is Atropos, the one who actually cuts the threads. This is death, yet it is also the end of the Fates' determination of one's destiny: freedom. A succubus, Nevan was created as a sex object: a title I rejected was toy, another played. Now, that life is over, and while her fate is still in Dante's hands, it is more open. Yet she still seeks to act as Atropos, and sever her old life, to have a new fate, yet her old life is so much a part of her she puts everything in terms of it. She desires Dante because that is what is normal for her: notice her ultimate desire is not pleasure: just lack of pain. Death is the ultimate lack of pain. This desire for suicide is what worries Ebony. Nevan is new, junior as Dante's, yet she is the oldest and has suffered the most. This is her afterlife, her heaven.

Nevan was also created to serve: while she centers her life around Dante, there's a little more selfishness. Ebony and Ivory are both centered around Dante, their desire is to avenge/cheer/help him and even the desires they ignore stem from their focus on him. Nevan wants to 'serve' him sexually for herself: he hasn't shown any desire for it. He has folded her into the sister category, recognizing her suffering, and wants to give her something else she can do well, something healthy. Dante is much more aware of Nevan's issues because she's new: Ebony and Ivory have been with him so long, and been so stable, he doesn't realize they need to be talked to as well because they are both determined not to worry him. Their function is to help Dante: he doesn't need to know how unstable his foundation is.

Wow. 300 words of fic and 1,128 of notes. And I only did backround info, not theme spoilers.

Notice: Ivory is at first deadpan, than childish as she comes to the decision to be childish. Ebony remains determinedly childish throughout, but is less so at the end, slipping out of character. Nevan is lyrical at the beginning, childish toward the middle, yet more out of wonder and rubbing off from E&I and the innocence of this new life than lack of adulthood, and deliberately vague at the end. Ivory ends on a decision, a choosing. Ebony ends with a consideration, something she is analyzing. Nevan ends indefinitely, avoiding the past, going to an uncertain future.

And I'm not writing one more word.


	2. Brothers in Arms

Disclaimer: No weapons allowed in the dorms. So it's a safe bet I don't own either Dante or his weaponry.

Second in a series of drabbles about the 'weapon-tachi', Dante's helpers. They help him kick ass, so they deserve the thanks of all gamers everywhere.

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Brothers in Arms:

Athos – Rebellion

He'd done the best he could for the boy. Growing up into a fine man: his father would be proud. A shame, but live by the sword, die and become a sword.

Dante was still too young to be out in the open like this. Mundus still wanted them both.

But he'd done pretty well, taking on the tower like his father had, defeating and winning the guardians. The replacement Door Guards were good boys, they'd help him carry out Sparda's wishes and look after his son.

He remembered when he and Yamato had stood there, waiting for a master.

Porthos – Agni

Two thousand years of waiting. Two thousand years of no hunting, no battling, no moving even. Waiting for someone, anyone, to defeat them, so they could get out of there, but no one here but the other guardians, and the other brother hadn't bothered. It grated on his nerves.

Nothing to do but talk. He knew now that was what a sigh was.

But now they whirled through the air, and their new Master smiled as he wielded them better than they wielded themselves. It had been worth the wait.

Even if he did yell at them when they talked.

Aramis – Rudra

Two thousand years on duty. Where was there to go? The tower had been sealed off from both the human and demon worlds. He had wondered if the one who did it would come back and they might be accepted as his swords.

Of course, until then his duty was to Mundus. And a human couldn't be worthy, but he had been gracious, until the guest tried to do what they were duty-bound to prevent. Honor was honor.

Their new Master was most skilled. Stubborn, but kinder than the other.

They had something better to protect than a door, now.

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The three drabble titles are the Three Musketeers, and according to barddotorg:

**Athos: **One of the group of three musketeers all of whom are quick to fight, quick to love, and quick to fight for the honor of France and its ladies, Athos is the leader of the group, both in intelligence and swordsmanship, though he has a secret past.

**Porthos:** Another of the group of three friends, Porthos is given to drinking, gambling, braggin, and dining but is always ready to join in any caper, even if he doesn't fully understand what's going on.

**Aramis: **Another of the three musketeers, Aramis enjoys theological discussions, but is instantly ready to defend his honor or anyone else's from insult or injury.

DMC is based on the Divine Comedy, so I wanted to retain the literary element in these.

Rebellion and Yamato both were inherited from Sparda, and apparently in the novella his sword tells Dante to hide who he is until he's older.

And according to the in-game boss enemy files, Agni and Rudra are twins searching for owners worthy of their full power. They're also clearly meant to parallel Dante and Vergil.


	3. Golden Girls

Disclaimer: I own neither the Devil May Cry of Capcom nor the Bard of Avon.

And Trish's weapons deserve thanks too, because if they weren't so good she might start wearing full-body armor like Dante in 1 and 2.

_Fear no more the heat of the sun  
Nor the cold winds bitter rages.  
Home art gone and ta'en their wages.  
Golden boys and girls all must  
Like chimney sweepers.  
Come to dust._

_-_Shakespeare,_ As You Like It_

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Dawn – Nightmare Beta/Gamma

It had been taken out of the mass, now a small whole instead of a minor part, planed as a replacement for the uncontrollable Nightmare, which obeyed the Emperor's programming save when it ran wild and the seals were needed, a shock of pain and light to control it.

It had been glad to not hurt what was once itself. But it wasn't that anymore. It had been improved, perfected even. And it wasn't a mass of madness.

The human-looking one had also been meant as a replacement, when the original was destroyed. The makers had had a rude awakening.

Day – Luce

They had fought, and they had lost, and now served the new Master. That was the code. Strength was all. They had knelt before him and asked how to serve him, the women they possessed made beautiful as the fools had wished.

Images. He had said that was all they were. But then he had learned of these new things called 'guns' and had adorned them with them, to lend their hosts their power and beauty, as always.

At least they had felt his hands, then. Though they had wished for more, as the other succubus did from the son.

Dusk – Ombra

They had fallen when he fell, the Dark Knight. The golden one the Knight had adored gathered them up and put them in a box as mementos. When the lid had closed, that was when they had mourned.

When it was opened again… but the golden one fell as well, they slipped from her grasp, blood red as her shawl as she died to protect their moon-pale children. As she fell on top of them, then they had mourned.

The one in red had thrown them aside and they mourned their unworthiness.

They would protect this one till she died.


	4. The Furies

Disclaimer: I own neither DMC nor the Furies of Greek/Roman mythology.

I was going to do the Hounds of Hell set first, but a reviewer asked for Beowulf. And reviewers are love.

The Furies/Erinyes are spirits/goddesses of vengeance. Alecto represents guilt and unending anger, Tisiphone sorrow and vengeance for murder, and Megaera suffering, unwillingness, and jealousy.

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The Furies

Alecto – Beowulf

He had lost. He had ran. First that trai… Sparda had taken one eye, then his younger son (that the traitor had children!) the other, and both times he fled, to wait and seek vengeance.

Then he had been fool enough to mistake the elder for the weakened younger and attack.

It wasn't the loss but the disgrace. To have his body used as a punching bag… well, he had used lesser demons that way. He had been weak and they had been strong. He had lost. That was the law.

It was dishonorable to resent it as he did.

Tisiphone – Kalina Ann

Forged in anger. Forged for vengeance for her murdered mother. That was how Lady saw it.

In reality, custom-made for an obscene amount of money by a gunsmith who hadn't known the story and wouldn't have cared. He would have thought the client was nuts, but money talked.

She'd paid extra to have the name engraved on it. Not much extra compared to the total price. She'd had to sell pretty much everything she'd managed to steal away with her when she left for it and the bike.

She'd cried when she'd known she would have to sell the earrings.

Megaera – Yamato

He. Could. Do. Nothing.

Nothing.

The young Master… was not his father, but he showed proper respect to his memory. He was a worthy Master. Honorable, just, fair, stern in defense of his own honor.

Admiting it when he lost even to one who was without respect. Seeking to redeem himself, facing a foe far stronger.

Too honorable.

The young Master had lost, and by the law of the strong over the weak was Mundus' to do with as he wished.

But to torture a child to break him… the young Master was right to resist.

This was not honor.


	5. Hounds of Hell

Disclaimer: I don't own Devil May Cry. I don't even own copies of the games. Or a PS2.

This is the last of the Functional drabble sets. I started doing these to establish characters for the weapons, as I wanted to write them in my fics, and it's been an interesting experience to do 'real' drabbles.

References to Classical and Norse mythology. Check out pantheon dot org for info. They have a lot of cool stuff there.

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_Hounds of Hell_

_Cerberus_ – Cerberus

He had been the guard of Temen ni Gru, portal to the Underworld. Doomed humans and the souls of the dead had been taken past him, harvested for the glory of Mundus. He had roared and they had trembled, cold fear in their hearts.

But after Sparda chained him, he had let none pass.

Until another powerless human had come before him. And defeated him, and taken his soul.

He'd always liked bread with things on it: some humans had bribed him with it.

Dante gave him pizza for guarding the shop as a human dog while he was away.

_Garm_ – Ifrit

He had been hellfire incarnate. Towns, cities, forests… where Mundus had sent him, nothing but ashes had remained. Humans? Ha! He'd boiled them in their armor, their pitiful weapons had melted before touching him, he'd cremated legions, roasted them slowly, their pain and terror his feast!

They still remembered the dragon.

But then a 'mere human' had defeated him, though he paid for it with his life. Handed down through centuries of warriors. The last had died on Mallet. Died bravely.

Perhaps Sparda was right that they were more than prey.

Was he a murderer? He didn't want to know.

_Fenrir _– Alastor

He'd been Mundus' assassin. He'd killed the children and families of those who dared to rebel along with the rebels themselves. And he'd laughed.

Even after he'd been defeated, chained to the form of a sword, he'd still laughed when he killed those who tried to master him. He was such an immature, cocky, _punk!_

Now, his master was the son of the ultimate rebel. And his human friends would hate him if they knew what he was, what he'd done.

He wanted to kill something. But Dante wouldn't wield him.

He just wished there was something he could _do! _


End file.
